The Dark Heart: Whiteout
COSG: The Dark Heart Chapter 4: Whiteout Chapter Body The rovers hammered through the whiteout, the intense blinding flurry of snow continued to pour down on the three vehicles. They chugged ahead, the rover was designed to handle most environments with its powerful 6-wheel drive and life support systems. Iyra’s was leading the way, and inside of the rover sat Taylor, Nidel, Kiara, and Iyra. It was dark, but with a single red light on creating a strangely eerie aesthetic inside of the tank. Being inside the tank, it felt as if someone had blasted the heater and the air was sweltering. The rocky surface and lumps of snow kept the three inside shuffling around in their seats, other parts of the vehicle raddled with each road bump in the tundra. Taylor looked around at the other, another bump shook the rover and nearly caused him to smack his head against the metal interior. “Smooth ride!” he said sarcastically, raising his voice to compensate for all the excess noise within the rover. “Don’t sass the driver!” Iyra replied back with a smirk. “It could be much worse, at least we’re going in a mostly straight line, and not up, and then down, sideways, back up...upside down.” “Like the old school Alliance Mako!” Kiara called out. The heat was getting to be bothersome for Taylor, who already had a knack for complaining and continued on that trend, “Sure is hot in these...what are they called?” “Rhino!” Iyra yelled back with an answer, “Rhino Rover.” “Sure is hot in these rhinos.” Taylor said finishing up his original statement. Nidel sat forward in his seat looking around, unsure what the fuss was about, “I rather enjoy it.” Kiara scoffed with a smile, “Of course you do you big lizard.” The salarian feigned offense as he looked to the human, wide-eyed, “How rude!” Despite being focused on the blizzard they were consumed in, Iyra glanced back at the others, “So Kiara, tell me about yourself, how’d you end up here?” The rugged human smiled as she leaned back, bracing one arm against her planted assault rifle. “Worked in law enforcement on Earth for awhile, but the pay wasn’t the greatest. When you have a wife, a kid on the way.” Whipping his head around, Nidel interrupted Kiara to toast his comrade, “Well congratulations Kiara! I didn’t know you were expecting.” “Thanks!” Kiara replied with a fond grin and a thumbs up, “Yeah we decided to go ahead through with it before I signed on for this trip. The pay was convincing enough.” “Ugh kids.” Taylor muttered but not so harshly, “Props to real parents but I could never be one. I hate kids.” He glanced over to Kiara before apologizing, “No offence.” Then added a praise, “Congratulations though!” From the driver’s seat Iyra heckled Taylor, “Yeah I could never see you raising a proper child.” “Damn right.” Taylor declared, quick to agree, he looked outside to see that there was just darkness, various darker shapes of mountains draped the horizon, as well as a lot of grey and white snowfall. Not offended by Taylor’s view, Kiara spoke, “They’re not for everyone that’s for sure, but I know it’s what I want.” She pulled a necklace from the narrow opening between her helmet and neck piece, pointed around the edges with a name scrawled in the middle, “Almiron is the name we’re going with, he may not be apart of this world yet, but I keep a part of him with me.” “Sweet stuff, world needs more people like you!” Iyra noted before turning her attention to Nidel, “What about you ya tall glass of water?” Nidel’s life had been quiet, the 17 years he had been around weren’t the most eventful compared to the majority of his fast living species. “Not a too much excitement in my life, I grew up on Nasurn, joined up with the Union Peacekeeping Regiment. And I remained on Nasurn for my entire tenure.” “Nasrun huh?” Taylor asked curiously, he knew of the separatist organization that had seceded from the Citadel decades before. “I heard a lot of Union members don’t leave Union space?” “I fought tooth and nail to get out.” Nidel declared, “The Union is a dying place, an organization that has no place in a growing galaxy. Needless to say, the bigotry and racism that was bred there, well… it was enough to convince me to walk away from my home.” Iyra was compelled to ask, “But, how’d you end up pulling security detail for a company on Earth?” “Ha!” Nidel bellowed out, “Lance actually. We met in a bar fight when some Batarian thugs got a little too jumpy. This in the lower wards of the Citadel.” He smiled looking back on the memory, “Doing pretty well too until he knocked me out cold by accident with a bottle. When I came too, albeit a little confused and aggravated with him, he offered me a job. And I accepted it.” Taylor had no issues believing the story, “Classic Lance, though it may not of been an accident.” He joked. He looked to the outside once more, thinking about the frozen world and what its significance could be. “I find it hard to believe the Protheans could of had a settlement here. Doesn’t seem like their style.” “Well they had an empire after all.” Iyra wisely informed, “Complacency doesn’t really float with those guys.” The rover’s radio chimed, Lance’s voice, choppy over the frequency, “We’re coming up location, 900 meters away.” “Copy that!” Iyra reported back as she switched her focus ahead. The endless blur of grey and white had altered, and dark shadows stood in the distance ahead, the silhouettes of structures. The boisterous snow storm seemed to dissipate ever so slightly, as they drew closer. The rhino wobbled as it went from tundra to what felt like old road covered in snow, and now, barely visible a wall stood before, some 6 meters tall, faded to the ages but holding a tint of bronze to them, despite being drenched by the fallen snow. Taylor leaned forward in his seat, eyes agape as he stared in awe at the ruin, another sight he had never witnessed anything like, “Woah.” He mumbled. A collapsed gate, worn by the elements and crumbled aside was planted ahead, and Iyra slowly and cautiously guided the rhino through. They rumbled down the destroyed roadway, ruined structures dotted either side. They were dull, a worn down bronze, some inscriptions were etched into the sides, and the snow and frost blanketed the edges and tops of the buildings. It was an eerie aesthetic, and the whole group felt it, Nidel speaking out, “I find it difficult to believe anyone could live here in this day and age, much less a team of scientist.” Looking out of the view ports of the rhino, the structures had blocked much of the blizzard, the atmosphere within the compound was clearer, snow still covered the old broken roadway. The buildings now in clear view were desolate, abandoned, dirty, the windows shattered and frozen, it was ominous, seeing a place lost to time like this was. Ahead the road came to a roundabout, circle a ravaged statue before splitting off in three other directions. “Let’--op--ere.” Lance’s voice cracked out again, enough for Iyra to understand, bringing the Rhino around full circle before stopping. Iyra looked back to Kiara, Nidel, and Taylor, with an anxious expression, “Everyone ready?” As he opened the hatch, the icebox-esq temperatures smacked Taylor in the face, the heat of the rhino certainly allowed him to feel the difference and a shiver rose up his spine as he sprung from the rover’s interior. The ruins seemed to shroud them, Taylor pivoted, mouth open and eyes wide as he gawk at the ancient constructs around him. Bunker like, militaristic, armored, but worn down and faded structures were everywhere, some half buried by mounds of snow. The compound was void of life, aside from a few signs of Roy’s aforementioned research team. Several heat lamps, most broken, and survey lights as well as hastily abandoned and snow covered equipment could be seen astrew. As the other rovers in the convoy stopped, their doors opening, and out came the rest of team, each as uncomfortably distraught as the next in this abandoned ruin. “This place sure gives me the creeps.” Kiara coughed out. Rhoen, the only one with any sense of calm apathy strolled carefully looking down the roadways. “Well, it is a graveyard.” Kiara looked back to the burly krogan, with concerned yes, “Thanks big guy.” Lance himself bore a serious visage across his face as he observed his surroundings. “Doctor Albrighton.” He muttered with uncertainty, “Are you sure your team is here?” The doctor had dropped much of the enthusiasm he had once carried, as an equal look of concerned masked he, Olassia, and the rest of the research team’s faces. “They wouldn’t of left themselves exposed to this storm.” He replied hopefully, “Before I left we discovered this base still had power, I’m sure they sought shelter within the main compound.” Sights of the abandoned equipment had Lance less than confident, “They sure left in a hurry.” “Be a little bit more positive, you never know.” Olassia commented. Lance arched a brow and let out a short sigh before issuing commands, “Alright everyone fan out and search for any signs of Roy’s team. Nidel, stay with the rhinos.” “Aye aye.” Nidel avowed. “Roy, if you’ll spread your team out as well.” Lance requested. The Doctor gave a slight nod before turning to his party, “Olassia, Quell, we’ll stick with Lance here. Privius, Robertson, Ogbonna, Ramsey, split between the other two details.” “Saelian, Rhoen, take southern road, Espinoza, Peterson, head north.” Lance then looked to Taylor and Iyra, “Taylor, you're with me, and Lyra is it?” “Iyra.” The asari remarked slightly callously, as she stood firm, stoic with arms crossed. “Apologies.” Lance uttered excusing himself, “If you’ll accompany us too?” Giving a slight nod Iyra broke her stance to follow, “You got it.” “Let’s move out!” Lance barked as he motioned to the others, walking towards one of the snow covered roadways. Having taken notice of Iyra’s annoyance at Lance’s name mistake, Taylor followed next to the Asari, “Don’t worry, I hate it when people get my name mixed up too.” Iyra scoffed with a smile, “I bet Tyler.” A humorously surprised look stretched across the human’s face, “Oh okay, Lyra.” “Lyra the Lyre, that’s what they call me, because I’m just so damn soothing.” They followed ahead, Lance leading the pack with his rifle held high, ever alert, and Olassia, Roy, and the salarian doctor, lanky and uncoordinatedly curious, Quell Kyt kept just ahead of Taylor and Iyra. “So what was this place doctor?” Lance asked. “It used to be an old military base, however.” Roy revealed pausing for a moment, “Before I left, we were attempting to access the bases central command hub. It was sealed but giving off energy levels from below the planet’s surface. Likely a bunker, and ultimately, our objective I believe.” Olassia now injected her way into the conversation, “One would safely assume anything worth hiding is kept underground, no?” Both Iyra and Taylor remained silent as they pulled up the rear of the party, the unpleasant silence that draped the compound had the two more than consciously occupied as they had their eyes on every nook and cranny. The ancient buildings seemed like something out of a haunted holiday tale. Recalling from memory, Roy recognized where they were heading and called out, “The central compound is just ahead! I guarantee the team is stowed away in there.” He stepped ahead of Lance causing the latter to stagger quickly just to keep up. Through the clearing of buildings there stood a large, bulky rustic structure, 4 stories high with various balconies and offshoots. Worn equipment and old cannons decorated areas of the walls and a double sided large metal door was at its center. As they approached, they could make out the door had been oddly shifted open, ever so slightly. “That’s it!” Roy yelled, “The central command, let’s find them.” Lance now took the lead once again, “Doctor I’m going to have to ask you to be careful and stay behind me.” Roy seemed to snap out of his ecstatic behavior and he heeded Lance’s order. “Right now.” Taylor mumbled to Iyra, “This is looking like a bad horror movie.” Iyra smirked, “Or a good adventure one.” As he placed one hand on the old door, Lance gave it a light shove but it didn’t budge much. He slung his rifle to the side, grabbed onto the inside of the door with both hand, and pressed it apart with some strength. The old metal being forced apart echoed through the streets. “I don’t think this door has been opened for some time Roy.” Lance rambled out solemnly. He shined the light fastened to the barrel of his rifle into the room. It was desolate and covered by snow that had blown in over the years, broken tables and chairs dotted sparsely across the area. Lance slowly stepped in, motioning for the others to funnel in behind him. Olassia’s head circled around as she analyzed the room, “This hasn’t been touched for centuries.” She declared, “They’re not here Roy.” “Well they didn’t just disappear!” Roy snapped back, as he wandered around the archaic room. Lance, pressing his fingers into his comm activated the channel, “Saelian, Espinoza, any progress?” No noise other than a humm returned on the other end, “Storms jamming the comms.” He once again tried, “Aetherius do you copy?” There was a momentary pause before the monotone and quite displeased voice of Erinn answered back. “...Yeah.” “Cancel Aetherius.” Lance said as he looked to the others, “Well that long range buoy they put up works fine.” “Maybe one of the others have found some signs of you team Doctor.” Taylor remarked. Roy seemed disconnected from the others as he searched the room, his hands slowly guiding along the displaced furniture and tables. “Maybe he.” He mumbled, as the others looked amongst themselves, curious as to what was going through the Doctor’s mind. He stopped, glaring to his right at a dark corridor in the center of the room, gated by a door. A single, dim, blue light, glistened at the end of the hallway, visible from the door’s view port. “Quell!” Roy called out for his salarian counterpart, as he nodded him towards the door, “Give it the once over, see what we got down there.” “Let’s see what we have here.” Quell creaked out as he approached the sealed door. He wiped away the dust and snow from the doors control panel and looked it up and down. “Hmm” he grunted before inaudibly mumbling beneath his breath, and raising his omni-tool. The wrist mounted device projected scanned over the door. “Well, power is still routed to the door from within the compound. Just a moment and I’ll have it open.” After twiddling on his omni-tool for a moment, a loud clang of motions echoed out from the ancient door as it rumbled, and slowly pulled apart. Quell glanced to the others, “So…” he stated nervously, “Who wants to go first?” With a shrug Lance advanced into the hallway, Roy and Olassia following behind. Quell still waited at the door for Taylor and Iyra to enter, but the Asari stop, and with a grin motioned Quell forward. The Salarian moved with disappointment in front of the two as he entered. Taylor looked to Iyra, “Ladies first.” Leading the way, Lance strolled through the dark hallway, his eyes up as his feet scraped slowly along the ground, unaware of the infrared beam lining across the floor. Just as his foot crossed, Iyra entered into the hall at the rear, and on both sides a barrier instantaneously deployed, releasing a piercing buzz of noise through the area. Startling Lance as it deployed in front of him, he dug his heels in, stopping his momentum, but on the other side, the barrier appeared just in front of Taylor startling him. He smacked into it face first, what felt like walking into a solid wall of the heat that radiates from an open oven. “Ahhh!” Taylor shouted as he dropped back to the floor. “What in the suck?!” His face and chest felt slightly warm, and aside from being startled nothing else was wrong. “You okay?!” Iyra asked in a scurry. Taylor felt his face and the other parts of his torso, “I think so, but uhh, what did y’all do?!” “What is this Roy?!” Lance questioned as he looked back and forth between the barriers sealing the group within the corridor. The Doctor let out a deep sigh, “Prothean defense barrier. You walked right into Lance.” Lance snapped back, “Well maybe if someone warned me.” “Enough! Calm down, minor setback gentlemen.” Olassia declared with authority. “Taylor!” She said turning her attention, “Seeing as you’re the only one on the outside, care to bail us out?” Back to his feet and shaking off the confusion, Taylor replied sarcastically, “I don’t know, I might need to find a doctor.” He wiped his hands off, snow dropping the floor, “I’m on it. What am I look for?” “Any sort of power conduit.” Quell added. “If we’re so lucky to find one that is.” a negative sentiment coming from Roy. Taylor shot the trapped group a thumbs up, “I’ll find something. Hang tight!” He declared as he turned and headed out into the ruined compound. “Hurry on back now cowboy!” Iyra yelled out. As he trekked back into the cold and desolate courtyard, he couldn’t help but be enticingly irked by the atmosphere. The howling of the wind shreaked through the eons old structures around the area. The bleak grey of sky seemed almost like a blanket laid adrift overhead as light flurries of snow flickered throughout the scene. Taylor pressed on, scanning the area around him as he looked for anything useful, “Power conduit… what the fuck does a prothean power conduit even look like?” he muttered to himself. He circled the bunker, searching for any signs of power before he picked it out, a conduit running from the backside of the central bunker. He traced alongside, shoveling the snow from the canal with his foot. At its end, tucked between two worn structures was the odd site of what looked like an old AC unit from Earth. “This is it? This is their power source?” Taylor approached the object, brushing the snow off the top but all signs pointed to it being as dead as everything else around him. It was near frozen, no heat emitting from the object, nothing. Somewhat underwhelmed, Taylor laid aside his rifle, and began to tinker with the device. With his focusing beaming in on the device, almost everything tuned out, including the low hum, a rattle, a grinding noise above. The silent but powerful slow steps, something dragging, like a pair of heavy objects scraping across the ground. Almost a faint echo jolted across the area. “Alright booooyzzz… and Iyra.” He announced into the comm, “I may of found something, or nothing, we’ll see.” he brushed off the last of the snow, and the device did appear to be a generator, though very much inactive. “Orr not.”. Several quicks drips of something trickled down in front of him. “Huh” he muttered as he ran his fingers across, liquid, thick, almost like saliva. All at once, it hit him, the noises coming from above accompanied by a dark lingering shadow the hung out over him. He looked up, his heart stopping as he did, and fierce chill raised up his spine as he saw it in the busted out side of the structure. There perched above him was a massive, near gorilla like beast, thick, white, mangy knotted fur covering most of its body, but was complimented by and armored torso and extremities, decorated in scars and damaged and diseased skin. It’s broad, devilish head was all the more terrifying, twisted rows of jagged horns protruded from its scalp, and its black eyes peered directly at Taylor, freezing him in place. Rows of sharp teeth stretched across its open mouth as the saliva dripped down, its black eyes peering forth. Taylor froze in fear, pulses of breath escaped from his mouth as his eyes wide, stayed locked on the beast, creating a moment in time that felt like an eternity of terror. Breaking free from the trance Taylor dove for his rifle, just as the beast galloped downward. Smashing into the tundra, and the rifle itself. At the last second Taylor weaved away, rolling to his just as the animal crashed down in front of him. He shuffled backwards, the shock over taking him as he stuttered out panicked breathes. The beast rose up, and unleashed a thundering horrific roar into the sky, but shots rang out. The sound of mass accelerator rifle, rounds thudding into the back of the beast, ripping its attention away from Taylor. There stood Nidel composed, rifle in hand and aimed high. “Hey! You barbaric excuse for evolution!” He fired another fruitless burst of fire into the creature. It swung itself in the direction of Nidel, galloping off its back legs and ripping apart tundra and ground as it did. The earth jolted with the beast’s footsteps as it stampeded towards Nidel, the salarian now backtracking and firing more rounds at the fiend. Closing the gap it swiped at Nidel, nearly crashing into a building as the salarian swiftly slid out of the way, continuing to pepper the monster with shots as he ran into the structure. It followed, crushing the buildings walls with ease, and the pursuit continued. Taylor recovering from the shock finally snapped out of his fearful state, he could hear the chaos, the gunfire growing distant as the beast pursued Nidel through the building. He fiddled around searching for his carnifex and withdrew the pistol, despite the shaking and the adrenaline he was intent on not letting Nidel face this monster alone, and he sprinted towards the sounds of anarchy. Within the bunker, those trapped could only hear the frightening chaos outside, left pondering what was occuring. Quell and Olassia stood in fear, while the others locked with heavy, concerned yet stoic expressions looked onward. “What in the Hell?” Lance muttered. Quell looked around fearfully, “At least we’re safe in here.. Right?” “Not worried about being safe. We gotta help them!” Iyra countered. Lance glanced around the room, “Alright, start searching for anyway out!” He ordered. Back outside, Nidel dashed through the courtyard structure, swiftly leaping over and sliding across tables as he pivoted to pepper the creature with more rounds. It charged through behind him, casting the furniture aside and barreling down pillars within the building, the sounds of the debacle dissipated any trace of the seething wind. Nidel bursted through the other side, now facing the rovers ahead he ran for his vehicle, forcing the door open hastily as he began to dig through the tank. He ripped out the container of his particle cannon. His heartbeat was becoming chaotic now, but before he could remove the weapon, the beast was closing in, throwing an open palm strike at the salarian. Throwing his body backwards as the creature’s claw ripped into the side of the rover he evaded it. Nidel rolled back, and underneath the rover, quickly rounding to the side of the other rover, popping his head up to hit the beast with several more shots as he continued to out maneuver the beast. Inside of the sealed bunker, the search for a way out was aimless, and the urge to act drew on Iyra. “That’s it.” She retorted clenching her teeth. The blue distortion and glow of biotic energy began to mist around as she tightened her fist, the mass effect force intensifying around her arms. “Stand back!” With all her might she slung a blast of direct biotic energy forward, into the mass effect field trapping the group. The volley smashed through, like an explosion of biotics completely breaking apart the barrier, kicking dirt snow out from the entrance of the bunker in the process. Taylor now emerged from the courtyard building just in time to see Nidel evading the creature. He raised his carnifex and fired at the beast, but it continued its pursuit, unphased by Taylor’s attempts to garner its attention. The salarian bounced up again to fire, only to get caught, the beast using its brute strength to cast the rover aside. Ripping it into the air and flipping it violently, throwing Nidel into the side of a building in the process, as his body crashed to the snowy floor. Nidel though, injured braced himself against the wall, firing another burst into the monster with his rifle. “TAYLOR!” He cried out frantically, “Get the particle cannon!!” He shook as he jammed in another thermal clip into his rifle. Hoisting himself up he clinched the trigger of his rifle blasting away. The panic was worse than ever now, Taylor’s eyes whipped back and forth across the scene, spotting the opened door of the freshly scared rover, he sprinted to the vehicle, ripping the cannon’s container from the interior and frantically rushing to open it as instinct took over. The beast however closed in on the weakened Nidel, who continued to valiantly fire at the beast, but it swung back, and across the salarian, ripping into his hardsuit and skin, right across his chest as deep green blood slapped across the snow. He lashed out in pain, but pulled the trigger again, grinding his teeth and fighting through the pain. Taylor’s hands were shaking, fumbling as he pulled the cannon from the container, he could hear Nidel’s screams and stood up, aiming at the beast, just as it swiped at Nidel again. This time across his face, cracking his visor, ripping a strip of skin from his nose, chin, and throat. Nidel held down the trigger and bullets ripped into the creatures under belly. The beast rose up and let out a monstrous roar and prepared to finish off the salarian. “Hey!! You giant shit stain!!” Taylor bellowed out with the cannon primed. The beast swung its head back and charged as Taylor pulled the trigger. The force of the weapon pushed Taylor back as a beam of pure energy volleyed from the weapon, slamming into the creatures as it pushed forward. The blast was a direct hit but it continued pushing on, so Taylor forced the trigger down longer. The particles burned through into the creature’s chest, burning away the armored plating and skin, it seemed to force itself forward, intent on reaching the human despite the immense carnage its body was enduring. It pushed through, Taylor’s eyes growing wide as he realized the beast wasn’t stop, but he stood still as it neared before suddenly, from the corner of his locked view a blast of biotic energy smashed the creature. Buckling it to the side before it could reach him, the beast stumbled. There, like a knight in shining armor stood Iyra in battle pose, ensnared by her biotics, with Lance flanking her. “Taylor! Run!” She ordered. As the two faced off with the beast. It stepped forward, injured but regaining its composure as it snarled and began a slow charge. Iyra’s biotics flared once more as she held her hands up and brace, shooting a blast of energy at the beast, but just as it did with the particle cannon it pressed through. Taylor, realizing the cannon had extinguished itself dropped the weapon, and he sprinted to Iyra’s side as his biotic energy began to illuminate around him. He slide beside building up his force as he grinded his teeth and threw his hands up, ripping out a beam of biotic power into the creature. Iyra glanced over to him and then back to the approaching menace and she grunted, forcing out a greater exertion of energy, and Taylor followed her tactic. Lance stood nervously beside them his gun raised as he watched what was unfolding. The guerrilla like monster charged, but with each step it exerted itself more and more against the biotic flow. It began to foam at mouth as it growled and snarled, it was fighting as hard as it could to press forward but the beast began to slow, just yards away from the three. With all its might the specimen rose up and roared at the sky, just as Taylor and Iyra, planting their feet into the ground both clenched their first shut forcing the biotic stream to collapse around the beast. A compendium of cracks and snaps echoed out from the beast as its body trembled, its bones and organs fracturing repeatedly as the mass effects fields caved in around it. Finally its neck itself snapped and the beast’s yanked to the side, blood rolling from its eyes and its mouth its skeletally mangled body dropped to the floor, finally dead. The three stood there, still in a trance over what had happened, not in tune with the reality of it being over, overlooking the lifeless beast before Lance fired a burst of shots at it to make sure it was dead. “Yeah he’s not getting up.” Suddenly the thought of Nidel hit Taylor and his eyes grew wide. His breath stuttered as he rushed to the flipped rover, sliding past as Iyra and Lance quickly followed behind. The salarian sat limp against one of the old prothean structures. His blood drenched the ground, dripping from his suit and creating an green slush as it mixed with the snow. His body was ravaged, he wheezed out broken weak breaths as blood seeped into his nostrils each time, from his eyes and the cut across his face. “Son of a bitch.” Lance muttered as he knelt down besides his wounded comrade. “Hang in there Nidel.” There was little belief in his voice. Taylor felt his heart skip a beat as he stared in terror at the salarian, shaking, thoughts ran through his head as to what he should do. “Hang on! Hang on Nidel!” he begged. But the salarian couldn’t respond, he just wheezed. Taylor looked to his omni-tool, “Medi-gel” he thought, holding out some hope he could help Nidel, but he knew his injuries were far too severe. He sprayed his medi-gel on the salarian, partially sealing the gashes across his chest, but now with each breath Nidel was trembling. “Hang on! Come Nidel you can get through this!” Nidel seemed to look at him for a moment, it was slight, but his head shook from side to side, and his eyes flickered shut, his head dropping limp. “No! NO!” Taylor cried out, but it was over, Nidel lied lifeless there now, it was over. “NO!” he screamed out one more time before ripping back his arm to the sky and slamming his fist into the frozen earth, once, twice, three times and bone breaking speed. Iyra grabbed the panicked human by the shoulder, “Taylor! He’s gone, there’s nothing we can do.” Taylor stopped, shoulder slumped over, taking deep heavy breathes he winced and looked toward the cloud covered sky. “Jesus fucking Christ.” Lance had stood back up, a stern look on his mug he activated his com, “Saelian, Kiara, Rhoen, anyone copy?” “We’re here!” Saelian’s voice boomed out from near by, as he, and the others, including the formerly trapped researched emerged from one of the structures. “I managed to track down your team Lance!” Roy said as he followed behind. He staggered at the scene in front of him. “Oh my…” The others stopped in their tracks as well, analyzing the chaos and the sight of the massive dead beast that caused it. “An Utha.” Rhoen informed as he looked at the creature, “I’ve heard of these things. Thrown across the galaxy during the rebellions, never thought I’d see one though.” It was then they caught the sight of Nidel’s body and a silence so great that you could hear a pin drop followed. They stood in place, a look of sorrow on most of their faces but Rhoen and Saelian. The krogan stood silent, his arms folded as he glared forward. The turian on the other hand was sweating bullets, short but heavy breathes snarled from his nose as he began to pace back and forth. He shook his head before looking to Taylor, who now sat against the same wall where Nidel laid, his hands resting heavy on his knees as he stared at the snow. “Go figure, your around and a good man dies.” He blurted out. Taylor’s head snapped up, and he stood tall, marching towards Saelian, that look of distraught now replaced with an expression of impatience “What did you just say to me?” The turian’s implicative remark ripped Taylor from whatever emotional state he was in. Saelian stepped up to the human, “You heard you wash out.” “Listen up you bony fuck knuckle.” He barked back looking up at the Turian, “Don’t you come after me when you weren’t even here to help!” The turian threw his arms forward shoving Taylor, who stepped back to retaliate only to have Lance throw himself between the two. “That’s enough you jack asses! Stand down!” he ordered as he shoved the two apart in his best attempt to defuse the situation. “Saelian, Espinoza, Peterson stay with the rovers and clean up this mess! Rhoen, Taylor you’re with me and the research team.” Saelian bore a look of rageful disbelief, “Are you serious, you’re leaving me out here Lance?” “Damn right when you’re picking fights like you are.” He stepped up to his commander only to have Rhoen pull him back. The krogan gave his turian friend a stare and shook his head, leaving him to back off and cool his temper down. Rhoen then turned to Lance. “You got it boss. I’m with you.” Taylor stood still, still stewing over Saelian as he glared at the hostile turian, “Yeah, I’m with you.” He said to Lance as he let out a sigh and walked towards the quiet researchers, who had watched the festivities unfold. Following behind was Iyra who gave Taylor a pat on the shoulder, “You’re alright champ, you’re alright.” He just nodded, still trying to catch his breath as he slightly trembled in anger, his tongue tucked into his cheek. The circle of thoughts and emotions swooped in again, he had seen death before, been involved in it, but watching Nidel die as he did began to weigh heavy. As the group circled around to head back to the main bunker, he glanced once more at Nidel, then back ahead. “I’m, I’m sorry.” Roy professed sincerely, this wasn’t supposed to happen. The other researchers all felt it as well. Lance shook off the emotion he was feeling, “Nidel knew the risk. We have to move on.” He then looked to Kiara, “Espinoza, keep searching for any signs of Roy’s team, or what’s left of them.” She gave the leader a nod, “You got it, hopes aren’t high, but we’ll look.” The group approached the poorly lit bunker and entered once more, Iyra stared down the descending staircase, with everything that happened she just hoped no more surprises were in store for them beyond this room. She looked back to Taylor, his gaze just stared lifelessly at the ground. The ominous silence was still dominating the area, and the events that had just occurred had her distraught, and she couldn’t help but wonder, what now awaited them within this bunker? Apperances Characters *Iyra Aldonia *Taylor McClellan *Nidel Aekso *Lance Shaw *Saelian Praxiun *Morkgul Rhoen *Roy Albrighton *Olassia Amore *Quell Satch *Kiara Espinoza *Peterson *Ogbonna *Ramsey *Robertson *Privius Species *Protheans (Mentioned) *Utha Locations *Zerxia *Sur’Kesh (Mentioned) Weapons *M12 Avenger Technology *Rover Category:COSG Category:Chronicles of a Silent Galaxy Category:WolfOfTheEast Category:Articles by WolfOfTheEast Category:Chapters